Imran Khan condemns lukewarm response of govt over Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has strongly condemned the aggression and violence in India-Occupied Kashmir, and the lackluster response of the government of Pakistan.

In a written statement, Imran expressed grave concern over the lukewarm response of the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif which he said was just limited to a statement by the Foreign Office and a briefing to envoys of several countries.

He said that it is shameful that there was no strong political condemnation by the Prime Minister which exposes the reluctance of the government to take any strong and clear position on Kashmir. Imran Khan also criticised his political adversary JUI-F’s Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and questioned the silence of the Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir which is also headed by Rehman.

Khan reminded that Pakistan is a party to the Kashmir dispute which is not an internal matter of the India as it has been a dispute before the United Nation Security Council since 1948. He demanded that the UN Security Council should take an immediate note of the killings by the Indian Army of unarmed people in Kashmir as it has the ability and responsibility to directly interfere in the region.

He pointed out that it was India who took the issue before the UNSC under Chapter V1 of the UN Charter “Pacific Settlement of Disputes”. He said that under the Resolution 47 (1948) the UNSC had “noted with satisfaction” that both Pakistan and India had agreed to hold a free and impartial plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that that it was its duty of the UNSC to ensure that this took was implemented and the dispute was resolved.

Moreover, Imran Khan said that the people of Kashmir had risen against the atrocities and fought against the Indian military for generation. The present indigenous uprising was part of the struggle for their rights and self determination. He made clear that both Pakistan and India “must abide by the wishes of the Kashmiri people and this can only be determined through a plebiscite held under the supervision of the UN”.

The killings in Indian-Occupied Kashmir are a gross violation of human rights including the right of people to protest peacefully. This strongly question India’s claims of being the world’s “largest democracy” which ring hollow in the light of these killing. He strongly stressed that military force is never a viable response to people seeking justice and their right of self-determination.

Imran Khan demanded that the Pakistan government undertake a diplomatic offensive to compel the international community to break its deafening silence on the continuing killing spree of the Indian army in IOK. “But for that the government has to have clarity of policy and it appears the Sharif government has no clarity,” he said.